A variety of applications in numerous industries exist that call for a need to join together components to form connector assemblies. More particularly, various industries require the use of connector assemblies, wherein one component, with a key incorporated into its design, is assembled with another receptacle-like component, having a key receptacle or keyway in its structure. In these connector assemblies, the components are assembled by inserting the keyed component into the keyway of the receptacle component so that the key fits in the keyway. Thus, the keyed component is locked into the receptacle component for further processing or for immediate use as a connector assembly. Often, this assembly of the components is performed by expensive and intricate automated robotic "pick and place systems." Accordingly, a less intricate system is needed.
One such industry having a need for such an assembly system is the fiber optics industry. Fiber optic systems often require connector assemblies in order to join together fiber optic strands. Fiber optic devices require strands of fiber optics having an inner circular glass core coated with a circumferential cladding having a different index of refraction. Light is transmitted along the core and totally reflected from the interface between the core and the cladding. Such fiber optic devices can be used as transmission lines for transmitting information bearing light energy. A transmission line can be formed from a single fiber or it can include a plurality of fibers bundled together as a cable.
When the transmission line is relatively long and extends between different pieces of fiber, the transmission line is divided into segments, and the different segments are connected using separable fiber optic connectors. The principal design criteria of such connectors is to join the transmission lines in an end-to-end relationship in such a manner as minimize loss of light energy. Most fiber optic connectors are designed to place the ends of the transmission lines into as close an axial alignment as possible.
There presently exists various connector assemblies for this axial alignment of fiber optics. Often, components with keyed surfaces are used to form connector assemblies. As stated above the components comprising these connector assemblies are often joined together by automated manufacturing methods. Particularly, robotic methods such as robotic pick and place are used to form the fiber optics connector assemblies. These robotic mechanisms tend to be expensive and difficult to maintain due to their intricate nature.
The difficulty in maintaining these systems arises because they must perform intricate assembling tasks. For instance, to assemble a round, keyed component into a receptacle with a key receiving notch or keyway, a number of complex and intricate sequential procedures are necessary. First, the robotic mechanism must grip the component. Then, the mechanism must sense the orientation of the component. Next, the mechanism must rotate the component in order to align the key of the component with the receptacle's keyway. Finally, the component is inserted into the receptacle while maintaining the alignment of the key with the keyway.
Besides producing connector assemblies for use in fiber optics applications, the present invention can be used in a variety of other fields of endeavor. For instance, the present invention has applications in the manufacture of toys, automobiles, material transport devices or in almost any other field where automated assembly equipment is utilized.
It is, therefore, a primary object of the invention to provide a device and method for assembling components wherein a component with a key is securely disposed within a receptacle component that has a keyway for accepting and holding in place that key. It is another object of the invention to provide such an assembly which is of relatively simple construction and which can be produced in a relatively inexpensive manner.